Creating an Image From Scratch
Suppose that you want to create an image to demonstrate that a computer screen can appear to display yellow by actually displaying many closely spaced red regions and green regions. You might also want to use the image to find out just how closely spaced these regions need to be, for a given viewing distance.
If you are familiar with an image editor, use it to create a grid that is about 50 squares wide and 40 squares high, where the squares alternate between red and green, both vertically and horizontally, as on a checkerboard. Then adjust the size of the overall pattern on your screen so that you can step back far enough to see the checkerboard blur into one solid yellow rectangle, without backing into a wall. Finally, read the last several of the following steps if you want to see what this means.
If you want to learn to use Paint Shop Pro 5 to make such an image, without marking a thousand squares one at a time, follow along with the following cookbook.
1. Open PSP5.
2. Get what amounts to a clean sheet of coarse graph paper by clicking the New icon (the blank page near the top left) and typing in a Width of 64 pixels, a Height of 48 pixels, and an Image type of 16 colors (4 bits). Let the background color default to White and the Resolution default to 72 bits per inch.
3. Make the work area big enough to see clearly by using View, Zoom in, 8:1.
4. Click the Paint brushes icon.
5. If you do not see a window that says Controls, get that window by using View, Toolbars, and checking Control palette. Then use Tool controls, Paper texture, None and Brush tip, Shape, Square. Further control your paintbrush by dragging the Size slider fully to the left, that is to 1 pixel wide, and dragging each of the other sliders fully to the right. Close the Control window.
